


Weyrlings

by mieraspeller



Series: Dragonrider Girl [2]
Category: Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: Canon Divergence, F/F, Female Dragonriders, Gen, Sexism, friendships between women, past violence toward minors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-09-25
Packaged: 2018-06-05 09:14:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6698914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mieraspeller/pseuds/mieraspeller
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which people are resistant to change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a WIP, and unbeta'd. If you see any mistakes, or if I missed any tags, please let me know! Some of the current tags aren't relevant to every chapter.

There was a _committee_. 

Higali glared at the door to the dusty, unused weyr. It had become a prison that she and the other girls who had impressed shared, shortly after they had been hustled away from the sands after Impression. She melted slightly at that remembrance, looking fondly at her brown Jonoth, sprawled in the sun near the window. He was curled up next to Shala and Kimbra’s green Lianth and blue Keth, respectively. 

Shala, a tall girl with skin several shades darker than Higali’s medium brown and thick black hair that curled and frizzed around her shoulders when it wasn’t tightly braided, was quiet and serious. Having impressed an only slightly frowned upon green dragon, they had deemed her the most compliant of the three girls and had allowed her to go the kitchens to fetch a tray for them three times a day. Always accompanied by a different nameless rider. This one hadn’t even bothered to speak, just shown up and jerked his head for Shala to follow. 

Kimbra was sitting on the edge of one of the cots, kicking idly at the leg and glaring at the wall. She had been the one who had caught on first. Despite being the youngest of them at only eleven turns, Kimbra went wild when the newly impressed pairs had been ushered away from the sands, biting and kicking when someone tried to pull her away from Keth before Shala or Higali had even realized what was happening. How would they know? None of them were weyr-bred. But that, combined with the fuss their dragons had kicked up, had at least got them all in one room. There was still a darkening bruise on the pale skin of Kimbra’s arm from being manhandled into their prison by no less than three adult dragonriders. Her wispy light colored hair, which had been tied back in a ribbon that first day, was now sticking up in roughly even tufts over her head, courtesy of Shala. It was an improvement over the uneven chunks of hair from Kimbra’s first impromptu hack job. 

They hadn’t been allowed a knife with their meals since. 

As for Higali herself… she was pacing. At this rate she would have worn a path in the stone floor of the weyr before their _committee_ had decided what to do with them. She wasn’t even allowed to see her brother, Jehal. She thought he had impressed, but wasn’t sure - they been dragged away before all the eggs had even hatched. And Jonoth wasn’t great at telling people that weren’t her, Shala and Kimbra apart yet.

_Shala comes,_ Jonoth announced sleepily. _I am hungry. And I itch._

Kimbra looked up and met Higali’s eyes. “Now?” 

Higali shook her head. It had only been a week, and even she could see that they dragons wouldn’t be able to fly yet, ungainly as they were. And then they were quiet as the door opened and Shala walked in, holding a tray with three plates on it. A new face - a young woman this time - followed her in, carrying a much larger tray with three bowls of meat.

The dragonrider at the door looked in on them suspiciously, but the girl rolled her eyes and kicked the door shut with her foot, calling out, “I’ve got this, K’mir!”

Well. That was new. Kimbra hopped up and came to stand at Higali’s right, vibrating with tension, and Shala set her tray on the small table and positioned herself on Higali’s left, still and deceptively relaxed.

The new girl set her tray on the floor, passing each bowl out to the dragons, before wiping her hands on her apron and facing them squarely. Then she burst into tears. 

 

“... And so, this is all my fault, and you wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for me,” the girl, Rema, finished. By this point, all the girls were sitting on the cots provided, flanked by their dragons, listening as Rema gave them a slightly confused, rambling explanation of how she convinced her foster brother’s dragon to search more girls for hatchings. 

Higali cleared her throat, trying to ignore the tightness. “Thank you.” _Thank you,_ echoed Jonoth, and Higali smiled down at the little brown dragon and rubbed his eye ridge affectionately.

Rema’s eyes widened. Kimbra nodded vigorously, and Shala reached over to clasp Rema’s hand. 

“Thank you for getting us to our dragons,” she said, giving Rema’s hand a squeeze before leaning back against Higali’s shoulder. 

“Oh.” Rema’s arm came up to cover her eyes. “Oh, I’m glad. I was worried… that you wouldn’t think it was worth it, after all….” She gestured around the room with both arms, revealing wet eyes. “This.” 

“‘Tis,” Kimbra chimed in her high piping voice. Her nose wrinkled as she jerked her chin at the door. “Even if this bit is a pile o’ dragon dung. Them hidebound deadglows in charge of this pile half look like their skeered an’ half look like they smell a fart when they look at us.”

Rema stared at her in astonishment before bursting out into peals of laughter. It took several moments, and the rider she had referred to as K’mir poking his head in, before she finally calmed. 

“Yes, you are absolutely right. We’re working on it - me and Gedda - she’s the green rider that was on guard yesterday, and my foster brother K’mir. And Lenna, but she’s at Harper Hall, trying to get Masterharper Menolly to talk some sense into the olds.” 

The girls glanced at each other before Higali nodded slowly. “You’ll keep us updated? None of us want to be stuck here forever.” The room, while nice, was claustrophic after three days, even with the accompanying ledge meant for a grown dragon to sleep on and launch from. 

Higali crossed her arms. “So, you just want us to wait here? Indefinitely?” 

“S’not happening,” Kimbra agreed. “”Nother day a’ this an’ Keth an’ I’ll take our chances at our old hold.” 

“I agree,” Shala said, startling the other girls with the steel in her voice. She leaned forward to brush one hand over her dragon’s head. “Ista is no stranger to hosting dragons, and it would be preferable to this. And I know there is plenty of unclaimed land on the Southern Continent.” 

“Now there’s an idea,” Higali said, sitting up eagerly. She wasn’t personally fond of the idea of going back to her Weaverscraft apprenticeship, and there was her brother to consider. “Southern’s got those grubs that eat thread, so we’d just need to find a likely cave to ride out threadfall.” 

I would like to see a cave, Jonoth says thoughtfully. 

“I can teach Keth to fish!” Kimbra added, and Keth sat up, looking intrigued by the prospect of a new kind of meat. 

Rema’s eyes widened and she held her hands up as if she could physically stop them from having more ideas. “You can’t run away from the Weyr.” 

“Don’t see why not,” Kimbra muttered. “Not like they want us ‘ere.” Keth grumbled in agreement, while Shala’s Lianth rocked from side to side, letting out sad chirps. 

“They don’t care about us, so I don’t see why we shouldn’t return the favor.” 

“But you’re on fighting dragons-” 

Higali snorted and Kimbra laughed bitterly. “Fighting dragons that hain’t been trained? Anyway, this is the las’ Pass. Thread’ll be gone in less than ten turns, if wha’ they says true. They don’ need us.”

“All the other weyrs think you should fight - and I heard from Illera that N’ton is going to ask for your transfer to Fort, if they won’t let you train here.” 

“Why?”

Before Rema could try to think of a response, Jonoth cocked his head. _Caylith says we are to go to Fort Weyr._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dealing with Weyr politics.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The previous chapter was updated, and this chapter is unbeta'd

 

“Where is N’ton?” G’dened asked, eyeing the young people around the table suspiciously.

“Preparing for thread. His opinion hasn’t changed since the last meeting, but since you mentioned this was urgent, he sent me.”

“And who represents Fort Weyr?”

“R’laden, rider of bronze Buluth, Wingleader.”

“Jassa, rider of gold Rajanth. Junior weyrwoman,” she added when G’dened continued to look puzzled.

“Not of Lessa, are you?”

Jassa's eyes turned flinty and even R’laden leaned back from the fierce expression. “I don't see how that is relevant.”

G’dened coughed and said gruffly, “Of course not, my apologies.”

“Anari, rider of Hilgath, Benden.” The last woman volunteered, before G’dened could fumble further. “Now, please tell us the purpose of this meeting. I thought everything had been settled during the last one.”

“Settled! You -” 

“N’ton,” R’laden corrected gently, as Anari said, “Lessa, actually,” 

G’dened eyed them balefully, before continuing deliberately. “Fort and Benden would have me believe they find this acceptable?”

“Um,” Talina, the Weyrwoman of Monaco Bay, said. She dug into one of the pouches on her flight leathers - a subtle jab at her view of the importance of this third meeting on the same subject. She grinned triumphantly as she pulled a folded up piece of paper out, and smoothed it on the table carefully. “Right. N’ton, in fact, said “the dragons have chosen, there’s nothing to do about it now,” and Lessa replied to your query about women being able to fight with -” 

“Fine!” the Istan Weyrwoman, Cosira interjected quickly, before her partner could dig himself in further. “Yes. But-” 

G’dened burst out, “It’s getting out of hand! Girls joining the Metalcrafthall, girl harpers-” 

“Yes,” Anari said, leaning forward and looking at G’dened pointedly. “Please tell us more about what Ista thinks women shouldn’t do.”

G’dened spluttered while the junior weyrwoman from Benden leaned back, eyebrows raised in challenge. Before he could dig himself deeper, Cosira laid a hand on his arm. “We’re only worried that the hatchlings could have been… influenced in some way. We’ve never had a woman rider on a brown or a blue dragon in our history.” 

Anari opened her mouth to retort, but R’laden beat her to it. “Actually, I recently learned about a female blue rider from the Third Pass. Something found in the records we were able to recover with AIVAS’ help.”

There was a brief pause as the assembled Weyrleaders processed this, before Jassa moved in for the kill. “In fact, Fort has been light on weyrlings this turn...” 

Cosira flicked one glance at G’dened’s slowly reddening face before nodding with a small smile. “Of course we would be happy to help. I’ll inform the girls - ah, the weyrlings.” 

R'laden nodded, eyes twinkling. There was a pause as Cosira conferred with her dragon, and then a bugle from a dragonet could be heard echoing faintly through the halls.

“If that is all?” Talina said, half standing from her chair. The meeting wrapped up quickly after that, and R’laden and Jassa held back as the Weyrleaders stood to leave, casting a quick hand signal at Anari, who slowed down and waited for the others to leave. 

“I’d like to see those records, if you don’t mind,” G’dened told R’laden gruffly. A few others chimed in their agreement, and he nodded. 

“Of course. I’ll have copies made and brought ‘round.” After they had filed out, leaving only R’laden, Anari and Jassa in the meeting room, they drew closer.

“How’s F’lar?” Jassa asked in a low voice. 

“Resting. Healer’s orders. Lessa didn’t want to leave him, in case…” Anari trailed off with a twist of a frown. “But they say he’ll make a full recovery if he rests.” 

“F’lar isn’t known for resting,” R’laden said wryly. “So, are you…?” but Anari was shaking her head before he finished his question.

“No! Tenra’s only 13, and her gold barely has her wings dry, so I was the highest rank available from Benden.” She nodded to the door. “And I’ve got to go take a meeting with Tagetarl now - Lessa wants printouts of all the post-Thread plans by sunset.” 

“Good luck,” R’laden said with a grin, holding the door open. She waved and took off at a run towards the bowl and her dragon. “Alright?”

Jassa made a face. “Fine. I barely know them - besides I've only my mother’s word that F’lessan was my father, and well... He would have been all of fifteen!” She shook her head and brushed past R’laden to the door. “I told Margatta I would pick up the new leathers from the TannerHall, I should go.”

R'laden raised a hand in farewell as he watched Jassa leave. Her small, upright stature, the tilt of her head when she was angry - if it wasn't for her darker coloring, she would be nearly Lessa’s exact likeness. Not, he reminded himself, that it mattered. F’lessan probably had a dozen children running around if tales of his youthful exploits were to be believed, and Jassa had already impressed a Queen dragon on her own merits.

“Um, wingleader?”

R’laden looked up to see a boy - a rather young boy, truthfully, though he had the look of one new to the weyr, holding open the door to the meeting room.

“I heard Fort is taking my - I mean. The girl weyrlings?”

He nodded and followed the boy from the room with a wry twist to his lips - news travelled fast when dragons were involved.

“Could I say good bye? Only, my sister is one of them.”

Giving the boy another appraising look, he nodded. “Both of you impressed?” 

He nodded, smiling brightly. “Yes, sir!” 

“Wingleader. I’m to take you to the weyrlings.”

“Why don’t we have…” 

"Jehal, sir. Oh, sorry, I guess it's J'hal, now," the weyrling added, ducking his head.

"J'hal, run ahead and warn them?"

“Go ahead,” the rider said, and R’laden waited until the lad was racing down the hall before nodding at a blue rider.

“K’mir, right?”

“Oh! Uh, yes.” 

“Wasn’t your dragon the start of all this?” 

K’mir’s dark face creased in annoyance, though it smoothed quickly. “Yes, sir,” he said in a flat voice. 

R’laden noted the reaction and changed the subject. “Ilera was most emphatic that I thank you,” he said, instead, and suppressed a grin at K’mir’s startled expression. “Now, may I meet the weyrlings I’ve just taken on?”

**Author's Note:**

> Shala (quiet, very tall for her age of 14) -- impresses green Lianth  
> Jehal (only 12 turns, and somewhat small for his age) - impresses green Generth  
> Kimbra (a slight, scrappy, and surprising foul mouthed girl of 11 turns) -- impresses blue Keth  
> Higali (17 turns, and quite willing to cut you if you comment on her age or her dragon or her baby brother Jehal) -- impresses a brown Jonoth


End file.
